Hi Merla Just a few comments on your letter > I can never admit to using BD > on the grant, but I can to using CT. Alaska humus is OMRI certified, > probably not registered in Idaho, but when I don't write up BD preps on my > report when I use them, it is only to protect JPI from any problem. Nobody > here knows anything about microorganisms -- > The concept of working through the microorganisms in the soil is > what we need to educate the Commissioners, the county department heads, the > local conventional farmers as well as the organic farmers who would be > reinforced by understanding the soil food web better, so that we can get > the whole county off the herbicide treadmill and into a wholistic land use > ethic that has preserving soil, water, air, wildlife and little human > children's immune systems as one of its purposes. So the most important thing would be for you to get a useful result using whatever methods are acceptable to you ? Results will speak the loudest in the end - if the locals see you getting a result with your different approach they will be interested. Most farmers that I ever met KNOW that they use stuff thats toxic, and all but a very few would choose a softer treatment if they knew that it would work as well and cost no more but the farm community is constantly bombarded with information that says these things dont work as well and cost heaps more! > > Should I make separate CT plots and BD plots, just spray the whole road > with BC, 500 and all the weed peppers surreptitiously or >should I put it > all together and not mention the fact that there are BD preps in there? I would say do option three here - put all your preps and peppers out as often as you can and call it compost tea - its a smokescreen but if you end up with a result worth showing - then you can work on getting the message out about just what you did. BTW if you have difficulty making fully aerobic tea - think about the old style stuff hand stirred in a barrel, this stuff works good too.
> I've given up only trying to prove that peppering will work on the road > right-of-way as a method of weed control. Good ! Just try to prove that your way of doing things is worthwhile > Now I'm simply trying to get > everyone to think about weed control wholistically and I'm trying every > strategy I can find until I find what works here including peppering. Urea > and 20% vinegar probably injure the food web too much. If you use urea as a foliar to knock weeds and dont get rain for a while after the application there should not be much gets into the soil. Microbes love urea - in small doses - its a great way of adjusting the carbon to nitrogen ratio in the soil to get good digestion of stubble residues and so to provide the crop with organic nitrogen - TOO MUCH is where the problem is - we then get over feeding by the microbes and they eat into the soil reserve of active humus. Conventional farmers have a problem with surface applied urea dissipating into the atmosphere so they apply it before rain is due to get it to wash into the soil - if you reverse this - apply it to your weeds when the soil surface is a little dry and no rain likely for a few days most of it should gas off and not do harm to your soilfoodweb. If you look around where you have used this a few times in the one place and dont see any soil hardening or loss of structure then you're fine with it. > Do I drop those > methods or use them and repopulate with microorganisms? How long does it > take to dissipate? Not long - if you want a good answer to this ask a conventional crop agronomist - specify the climate conditions temperature etc and it will be about half the time that he tells you, quicker again if you use it as a foliar spray. Takes warmth, a little humidity and some air movement, do you spray it as a foliar or sprinkle the granules around? Hope some of this might help Lloyd Charles
